It was the South’s greatest victory that cost them the war
By Bob Ford Special to
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Two months after the Union changed the course of the war by winning at the Battle of Gettysburg and the South’s surrender of Vicksburg, both armies were reeling in the eastern and western theaters from those battles, with 50,000 casualties in Pennsylvania and the South surrendering 30,000 starving men in Mississippi.
Lincoln needed to keep the pressure on the rebels, finally realizing the path to overall victory was through attrition. People scoffed at General Winfield Scott’s Anaconda Plan in early 1861, blockading southern ports, taking the Mississippi River, cutting the Confederacy in half and then squeezing the South into submission. No one was mocking it now, it was working.
Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg and Union Gen. William Rosecrans had battled the year earlier at Stones River, giving the Yankees a much needed but hard fought victory.
“As the eastern and western troops on both sides healed and redeployed, the mid-states theater was vulnerable,” so stated Jim Ogden, Park Historian for the Chickamauga/Chattanooga National Battlefield.
This battlefield was the first in the United States to receive National Park status through a bill passed by congress in 1890. Its 6,000 acres saw 40,000 veterans and guests at the dedication in 1895, setting the precedent for other battlefields like Gettysburg to become a National Park five years later.
The designations provided the nation with a place to cleanse and commemorate the sacrifices both sides made. Through these parks, people started not arguing about who was right or wrong but accepting what had happened, allowing the country to slowly move on.
In total, at the Chickamagua/Chattanooga Battlefield, there are over 1,400 monuments and markers paying tribute to those who fought and died there.
In August of 1863, Lincoln ordered Rosecrans and his Army of the Cumberland to move on Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Bragg and his 40,000 men of the Army of Tennessee were positioned. The city was crucial, “as important as taking Richmond itself,” professed Lincoln. It was the gateway to the south, located on the Tennessee River in a gap at the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains. Following the topography created by rivers, four major railroads converged at Chattanooga controlling the south’s ability to supply its troops in all sectors.
Unlike Stones River, Bragg didn’t realize the Army of the Cumberland had crossed the Tennessee — then climbing over Sand and Lookout Mountains — until it was too late. If you have ever been to Lookout Mountain, you know the commanding view of the river, city, rail and everything in the valley below that strategic site has. Rosecrans now masterfully held the position. Bragg, without a fight, had to move his troops quickly out of the valley towards Atlanta or surrender.
Heading south, this time it was the Confederates’ turn to feint a move. Rosecrans thought he was fleeing but Bragg had been reinforced and stopped just five miles south of Chattanooga on the southern side of Lookout Mountain … waiting.
No major battles or stalemates were taking place at the time. Bragg was able to get troops sent earlier to unsuccessfully rescue Vicksburg, a corps from Knoxville and 15,000 veteran fighters attached to the Army of the Potomac under the Command of Robert E. Lee’s old “war horse” Gen.
Longstreet, with others, had convinced Lee for the first time in military history to send a force from one fighting theater into another by train bolstering Bragg’s army.
“It would take five different trains and hundreds of miles but the troops were committed,” says historian Ogdon. “That transfer is one of the facts that makes this battle so fascinating.”
Now, Bragg would soon have 72,000 men to Rosecrans 57,000, with the advantage of picking the ground on which to fight. Knowing Rosecrans would be heading south to chase the rebels, Bragg spread rumors that his troops were exhausted, hungry and demoralized … Rosecrans bit.
The pursuing Yankees formed three columns about 20 miles apart from one another, moving them through different mountain passes. A problem for the North was they could not support one another and Bragg knew it. The Southern general’s plan was simple, attack one column at a time with his overwhelming force, driving them back and trapping the Army of the Cumberland against the vertical face of Lookout Mountain, then easily taking Chattanooga back.
Bragg thought Rosecrans would move south in two columns, instead there were three. When Bragg attacked he actually struck the middle column on Sept. 18, 1863 losing his element of surprise. Scattered fighting took place most of that first day, but the important truth discovered by Rosecrans was the rebels were not demoralized or in disarray. They fought like they had at Stones River. Rosecrans consolidated his columns as the rebels advanced over three small bridges crossing the usually tranquil Chickamauga Creek.
Longstreet had arrived with staff that evening but most of his troops had not, when could they be counted on?
Bragg divided his army into two fighting forces, the left wing would be commanded by Episcopal Minister Lt. Gen. Leonidas Polk and the right to Longstreet.
On the morning of the Sept. 20, fierce fighting commenced as both sides maneuvered. Rosecrans was a mess, with no rest and constant monumental decisions reconfiguring his units throughout past days, he was sleep deprived. The battle line was six miles long through thick forests, rolling hills, parched meadows and the creek. Both armies had the three basic elements of a fighting contingent in the 19th century: infantry, artillery and cavalry. Moving these units was a chess match with thousands of lives in the balance.
It was now a bloodbath with neither side gaining a clear advantage.
Rain had not fallen for weeks, the forest ground was tinder dry, pastures were littered with the dead and dying. Through the dust and blue haze of battle, confusion reigned as units got mixed up, firing upon their own commanders. Then the forest floor caught fire.
“Screams pierced through the constant battle sounds of artillery and musket fire,” Ogden lamented.
“In God’s name where’s Longstreet’s boys they could turn the tide?” Bragg shouted to his subordinates.
(Next week, as the battle raged, ill-fated strategies proved the outcome.)
